The Story of Koopa
by Walkazo
Summary: Supplemental material for the "Super Koopa" trilogy. This is the full version of the oft-told legend of the ancient turtle-human conflict and the dragon who brought peace to the land.


**Disclaimer: I don't own a few place and species names, but everything else is totally mine.**

**Author's Note: I wrote this back in 2007, when a "hero pattern" English project gave me the perfect opportunity to put the full Koopa legend of my _Super Koopa_ trilogy in print. I knew I wouldn't be able to post the story until my trilogy was complete, as it reveals a couple plot twists integral to the tension of _Super Koopa World_'s plot. I've made a few tweaks, but it's mostly intact from when I first wrote it (back when I was much more polarized in my opinions on Koopa-human relations – any attempts to change that in this story failed, so I just left it alone).**

**This is meant as a bonus add-on for any _Super Koopa_ fans who'd like to see the full story about Koopa (as opposed to the various – and often partial – renditions put forth in _Super Koopa Land_ and _SKW_). If you haven't read the trilogy, DON'T READ THIS – go back and read _The Queen of the Koopas_ before anything else. Also, this is not meant to be a _normal_ fanfic: unless you're a history junkie who doesn't mind dry expositions of totally original mythology, this is not your kettle of fish. You have been warned.**

The Story of Koopa

Two hundred years ago the Mushroom World was a very different place. People lived their lives peacefully, whether they were simple Mushrooms, mild-mannered humans, or nomadic Turtles. Then one day, two great wooden sailing ships appeared in the ocean, the likes of which had never been seen before. On board the ships were an ambitious group of humans from another dimension, far colder and crueler than the Mushroom World that they had somehow been transported to.

They swiftly forged an alliance with the native humans and the Mushrooms, and filled them with the drive to build newer and bigger settlements, as the humans had on their homeworld. While they had chosen simple lives, the natives were as intelligent as the new humans and aided by their magic abilities, they moved their world forward in leaps and bounds. Soon, the land was covered in growing settlements, and to maintain order, the humans made the captain of their largest boat King. His name was Toadstool, and one species of the Mushrooms renamed themselves Toads in his honor. It was a time of prosperity, but not of peace.

For countless generations, the Toads had been hunted by many of the other species, as their Vim was a potent source of energy – both nutritional and magical. The new humans vowed to use their technology to protect their Toad allies, and started massacring their enemies, most of which were Turtles. In retaliation, they attacked the villages with everything they had. Those with magical gifts, such as the Turtle witches and wizards, led the fight, but even the plainer species played their part, using the spears and swords that they long had the ability to make, yet only now felt a need.

But it wasn't enough. The humans slaughtered their assailants with their cannons and muskets, and continued to kill any other species that posed a threat, including ancient dinosaurs, and majestic dragons.

One casualty of the genocide was a male Shelled Dragon named Brutus. Shelled Dragons were a small species; as their named implied they had large shells on their backs which came in every colour of their rainbow. The males' facial scales also came in a range of hues, while their bodies and limbs were mustard-coloured, and the females were always totally green. The skin on both sexes' snouts was pale tan, as were their leathery bellies. They had great manes of hair growing from their heads, which were just as varied in colour as their shells. Although they didn't fly like most dragons, they had a venomous bite and breathed fire as well as any of their larger cousins. They had curved bull horns adorning their skulls, and spikes all over their shells, with equally sharp teeth and claws. The females had the added weapon of two long spikes sticking out of their tales; the males had them too, but both their spikes and their tails were shorter than the females'.

Brutus wasn't a particularly special Shelled Dragon, but his mate, Koopa, was. Like Brutus, Koopa had red hair and a green shell, as did her and Brutus' only son, Methos, but while she looked average, she was far from it. Unlike everyone else, she wasn't content with running away from the humans – she wanted to avenge her mate, and she was willing to fight the human army single-handedly to do it. But for the sake of her young son, Koopa held back, and instead travelled around the Mushroom World with Methos, far from the bloody battles, searching for a way she could defeat the humans. Then one day, the two heard about an ancient legend from a wise old Turtle witch. She told them about the Mystic Meteor, a meteorite that supposedly hit the planet millions of years ago and brought magic to the Mushroom World from the centre of the universe. The witch said it was responsible for dragons' gravity-defying flight, for her own ability to cast spells, for Koopa and Methos' ability to breathe fire, and for all the other wonders of the world.

Koopa was inspired by the tale, and recognized the Mystic Meteors' importance in defeating the humans. If she could find the meteorite, she could use its power to destroy her adversaries. Koopa and Methos began searching in earnest now that they knew what they were looking for, but as they got closer to the Meteor, the humans got closer to their own victory, beating the Turtles and their allies back into the volcanic mountain range of Dark Land. They ran into some problems here, as the Turtles used the terrain to slow the humans' advance. They lined the cliffs with land troops that would rain stones and projectiles down on their enemies below, why the flying ones dive-bombed the humans from above, taking cover in the volcanic clouds before their attacks. The humans never gave up, but fell back to solidify the land they had conquered to date. They drew new borders and named their country the Mushroom Kingdom, all the while massing troops for the next big assault.

Koopa and Methos only heard rumors of these events, for their years of searching having taken them far away from Dark Land's southern reaches. Eventually, amongst the extinct northern volcanoes, they found the ancient crater caused by the Mystic Meteor. They then started digging, and after toiling for weeks, they found what they were looking for. The Mystic Meteor was a pockmarked, metallic blue, oblong hunk of rock. It was about a meter long, making it a bit larger than a Shelled Dragon's head. It was quite heavy, but when she touched it, Koopa felt more powerful than she had ever felt before, lifting the meteorite like is weighed nothing at all.

She returned to the south, but before revealing the Meteor to the Turtles, Koopa had Methos leave her. She was sure the humans would try to eliminate her once they realized the threat she posed to them, and she didn't want her only son to be killed in the process. He understood and faded into the background as his mother became the most famous and most powerful being in Dark Land. She single-handedly defeated an entire human platoon, having been superpowered by the Mystic Meteor. All the Turtles and their allies united around Koopa's power, and as they finally started to turn the tables on the humans, they made her their Queen.

But as the fighting went on and on, Koopa realized that her people would never win. Even confronted with her mystical powers, the humans were not giving in; their weaponry was advancing, and their own resolve was strengthening in the face of the Turtles' newfound leader. Soldiers were still being slaughtered on both sides, and innocent bystanders were still suffering. War was a terrible thing and Koopa wanted to end it. She no longer hungered for revenge on her mate's murderers, but prayed for the murdering to stop.

On the anniversary of her ascension to the throne, Queen Koopa contacted King Toadstool. She begged him to sign a peace treaty with her – to end the war. She asked for him to destroy his weapons of warfare, for guns and cannons were the antithesis of the Mystic Meteor's power and sucked the very life out of all Mushroom Worlders they marred, be they Turtles, Mushrooms or the peace-loving humans native to the world. In return for King Toadstool's cooperation, Queen Koopa offered him the one thing Earth humans lacked: true power. The humans that were not native to the world drew no power from the Mystic Meteor, but Koopa knew how to change that.

It was a tough decision for King Toadstool. He too wanted the war to end, but he wanted to ensure the Turtles wouldn't take advantage of peacetime. By destroying his weapons, he made his people vulnerable, but if Koopa really did grant humans awesome powers, they could still defend themselves (though their effectiveness would never be the same). After much deliberation, King Toadstool agreed, but only if the Turtles' unified forces were once again divided into the nomadic tribes they used to be.

Koopa agreed, and met with King Toadstool to sign the Peace Treaty. Both armies retreated from the borders, and the fighting ceased immediately. The Turtles then went their separate ways, and the humans prepared to destroy their weapons, but not before Koopa gave them their new power. However, the queen had a plan, for she did not trust the humans and would never grant them the unlimited power her own people drew from the Mystic Meteor. She forced Toadstool to let her perform the ceremony that would grant the humans power in private, in the far north of Dark Land where she found the meteorite.

Koopa knew that by breaking the Mystic Meteor, she would divide its power and only give the humans a limited amount. She also knew that doing this would rob her of her own energy and she would die, but it was the only way she could prevent the deaths of many morel Mushroom Worlders – present and future. Before she left for the north, she made one final promise to her people. She promised that if the humans ever betrayed their vow to refrain from the use of their deadly weapons, she would personally see to their defeat. The Turtles mourned their queen's decision to let herself die for their protection, and to ensure she was never forgotten, they renamed themselves Koopas.

Queen Koopa then traveled through the mountains alone, coming to a deep cave in a mountain overlooking the ocean that had brought the humans to the world. Here, she used her bare hands to separate a piece of the Mystic Meteor from the rest; its magic ensured that the piece she carved out was a perfect circle. As she died, Koopa spoke aloud the curse, and as her energy became one with the Mushroom World, her hidden son watched from the shadows. Koopa's body then turned to dust, which Methos carefully collected and set aside as he converted the cave into a shrine. He covered the walls with the story of the humans and Koopa's journey to stop them, and as if the beautiful paintings and painstakingly engraved narration wasn't enough, he finished it carved a life-sized statue of his mother. In one hand, the statue held the Mystic Meteor, in the other it held the golden staff that Queen Koopa had used to help channel the meteorite's power.

After scattering the dust about the hallowed cavern, Methos left his mother forever, taking with him the spherical piece of the Mystic Meteor that she had carved out with her bare hands. He disguised it as a charm of a winged Koopa shell, and passed it down to his only child without telling her what it really was. The legend says that one day the humans will break their vow and Koopa's own descendant will step forward to stop them. It is whispered that when innocent blood links the two pieces of the Mystic Meteor, Queen Koopa's spirit will return and give her heir the means to defeat the humans once and for all.

The End


End file.
